RiverRun offers Piedmont native a 'hometown' stage

Jimmy Greenway's two obsessions when he was growing up in Thomasville were Star Wars and the band U2.

Never did Greenway imagine when he was growing up that years later he would get to hang out with Bono and The Edge. But he did in 1997, when he became production manager for the film and video unit on the U2 Popmart World Tour.

His dreams of working with Star Wars director George Lucas, however, haven't come true.

Looking back now, Greenway figures that one out of two isn't bad.

"I grew up with Star Wars posters and U2 posters on my wall in Davidson County," said Greenway, a film producer, as he prepared to take a flight from Los Angeles to Winston-Salem for the RiverRun International Film Festival.

"That I actually ended up working with one of them is pretty extraordinary to me."

Greenway and Michael Nadeau run Art & Industry in Venice, Calif., and produced Art & Copy, a documentary about the advertising industry that will have a screening at RiverRun at 11 a.m. today at the UNC School of the Arts. It will be shown again Friday and Sunday.

Art & Copy puts a face on those in the advertising industry responsible for such iconic images and phrases as Nike's "Just do it" or President Reagan's "It's morning in America."

The film was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival.

As a child, Greenway always loved movies. He would watch them all the time while his parents made their living selling carpets in Thomasville. At Ledford High School, he and his friends would make short films with a video camera.

In the 1980s, there weren't many colleges and universities that had a filmmaking school, Greenway said. He decided to attend UNC Wilmington, where a burgeoning film scene was just popping up.

Of course, years later, such television shows as Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill would be made there.

However, Greenway only managed to be an extra in King Kong Lives. Plus, he spent most of his time on the beach instead of the classroom, he said.

His career in film really got its start at Guilford Technical Community College, where the professor in his communications class asked him and some other students to help start a theater department. That experience served as the kick he needed to pack up and move to Los Angeles.

In California, Greenway began his career in music videos, working with such artists as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and John Lee Hooker.

He met big-time directors Michael Bay and David Fincher, who both got their start making music videos.

It was a heady experience to see musical artists that he had grown up watching on MTV.

Working in the music-video industry was his school of filmmaking, he said.

After a brief stint as a staff producer for Cliff Freeman and Partners in New York, Greenway returned to Los Angeles in 2001 and started his production boutique, Mindfield, where he produced music videos, commercials, branded content and television products.

Then with Nadeau, he started Art & Industry.

Much of what he learned about producing, Greenway said, actually came from working at a restaurant in High Point called PoFolks.

He was the liaison between the waiters and the kitchen. He took the order from the waiter and took it to the kitchen.

Then he got the order from the kitchen, made everything look pretty, and gave it to the waiters so they could serve the food to the customers, he said.

"The producer is the one that makes sure there are no fires to begin with," Greenway said. And if there are fires, the producer has to be the one to put them out before they cause trouble, he said.

For Greenway, those passions stoked during his childhood in Thomasville have led him to a thriving career in Hollywood, a chance to attend the Sundance Film Festival, and an opportunity to come back to Winston-Salem to show his film at RiverRun.

"I always knew that I was going to be satisfied if I could make movies," he said.

■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.

There's more

• The RiverRun International Film Festival will run through Wednesday.

• Art & Copy will be shown at 11 today at the Main Theatre at UNC School of the Arts Film Village, $8, $6 for students with ID. It will be repeated at 9:45 a.m. Friday, UNCSA-Babcock, and at 9:45 p.m. Sunday, UNCSA-Gold.

• Today's other Best Bets include: Guest of Cindy Sherman, 2 p.m., Reynolda House, 2250 Reynolda Road; Idiots and Angels, 9 p.m. UNCSA-Babcock; Rocaterrania, 9:15 p.m., UNCSA-Main.

• Visit the Winston-Salem Journal's Web site, www.journalnow.com, for daily podcasts, a complete schedule, reviews of most of the films being shown, more Best Bets, a map of venues and more.

• For tickets and more information, go to www.riverrunfilm.com.